Human rights: in the real world

18 June 2008

An analysis of the relevance of human rights to litigation and exploitation of intellectual property rights in the UK. The paper considers the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998, and other human rights instruments, materials and case law. The paper concludes that while human rights are now firmly located in the IP landscape, only in limited cases will they necessarily be effective to prevail over IP, or reshape it. The paper suggests a more pervasive role for human rights in statutory interpretation, which may alter the underlying balance of interests.